Locking device for trunk drawers



Patented Dec. 2%, i922,

hllild stars 1,44%,146 rr-rcs.

EUGENE l/V. HA'QVLEY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

Locnrns ,nnvrcn non TRUNK nnawnns.

' Application filed. February 14, 1922. Serial No. 536,607. I

My invention relates to an improvement in locking means for trunk drawers.

Heretotore it has been known to e'tfect a locking" of a bank ot drawers in a trunk, such, For example, as awardrobe trunk, by means of a single lock carried by one of the drawers or by the body or the trunk, it being customary to provide a bar extending along the faces of the drawers, centrally or at their edges, which is anchored or secured to the trunk body and engaged and held in locking position in front of the drawers by the lock above mentioned.

' lily invention is applicable, for example, to a drawer locking device such as is shown and described in the patent to Eugene W. Hawley, No. 1,366,451, dated January 25, 1921, in which are provided a pair of looking bars hinged to the trunk body and adapted to extend along the faces of a: plurality of drawers at opposite edges and in such position to be locked by a single lock to effect a locking of all the drawers. Springs are provided which, when the lockis released, op-- erate to cause the bars to turn on their hinges away from the facesof the drawers permitting them toopen fully.

Such a structure is open to the serious objection that if, when the trunk is closed, the drawer locking bars are left in open or unlocked position, they, and especially the bar adjacent the free edges of the two sections of the trunk, will tend to jam to the injury of the bars and the trunk body and necessitating the re-opening of the trunk and proper positioning of the locking boss.

By virtue of my invention, the disadvantage pointed out above is eliminated and a structure provided which will insure a proper positioning and locking, if a spring lock is used, of the drawer locking bars by the mere closing of the trunk, without the necessity for preliminarily positioningthe bars.

Having no ind ated in e eneral Way the nature; purpose and advantages of my invention, I will proceed to describe, in detail, a preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which-- Fig. l is a front View of a wardrobe trunk embodyingmy inventiom'the trunk being partially open.

a Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a portion of the trunk shown in Fig. 1, with thelocking bars in unlocked position;

Fig; 3 is a detailed crosssectional view of a portion of the trunk shown in Fig. l, the trunkbeing almost closed, the lockingbars being in open position.

Fig". dis a detail showing method of hinging the locking bars to the trunk.

Fig. 5 is across-sectional view on line 5, Fig. 1. P Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view on line 6, *ig. '1. i l The trunk of the wardrobe type is composed of the clothes compartment a and the drawer compartment 7) hinged to each other. The compartment?) is divided by a partition 0 and in which are fitted the drawers The compartment 6 carries trunk locking hooks 6 adapted to enter keeper 7 formed in a strip gsecured inside the compartment an adjacent the outer edge thereof. :A strip g is secured within the compartmentc opposite to the strip g. p

A pair of locking bars h, h are hinged'to the sides of the compartment 7) by means of hinges i in such a manner as to permit the bars to lie alongthe front ofthe drawers, and prevent them from being opened, or to be positioned away from the drawers topermit them to be opened. Springs as are connected with the hingesand tend to keep the locking bars 7t, h in open position, permitting the drawers to be opened.

Each ofthe bars h, h is provided onits inner face with a latch 70 which, when the bars are closed, i. e. positioned to lie along the front of the drawers, enters apertures in a casing Z, fiXed to the edge of the partition 0, and are engaged by bolts m, m oppositely actuated by a spring a and retracted by means of finger pieces 0, 0, which may be locked by means of a lock 1).

Thus, when the locking bars are moved into position to prevent the drawers from opening they are automatically locked by means of bolts m, m, which may be released by finger pieces 0 to permit the lock ng bars 

